Hibernians U20

7 Mar 2032
Sunday
Process
292 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

1 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Ali Diakité out for 123 days

123 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Mackenzie Chapman hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

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Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ciaran Gilligan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 144% of the Hibernians income

Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.

The dugout

Leandro Lacunza has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

Still no ink between Hibernians and Rok Frešer

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hibernians, another week without a signature from Rok Frešer.

The dugout

Chukwuemeka Junior Eke knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chukwuemeka Junior Eke trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

Back issues
291 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

23 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Kevin Halabaku is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.81 with 31 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ali Diakité

130 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hibernians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

The cup run ends for Hibernians

0‑1 against Mosta, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Match

Hibernians are at home on the road

6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Kevin Halabaku was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Gilbert Xuereb to a room that had heard them before.

Player ratings

Kevin Halabaku beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

When it matters, Matteo Cardinali plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

Alan Majewski falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

In brief

290 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

16 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Ali Diakité out for 137 days

137 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Hibernians up to position 3

47 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Ciaran Gilligan falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

The formation has left Lenny Brown behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Hibernians will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Azer Kozić

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Mailson Lima has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

Still no ink between Hibernians and Lenny Brown

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hibernians, another week without a signature from Lenny Brown.

Market

The Matteo Cardinali story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matteo Cardinali signs something — a contract at Hibernians or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

289 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

9 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Ali Diakité damages knee ligaments — 145 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 145 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

The dugout

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Squad

Charleston stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Charleston and Hibernians agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ciaran Gilligan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Ciaran Gilligan

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Charleston has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

The clock does Ciaran Gilligan’s negotiating for him

3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Hibernians could ask drops and the wages Ciaran Gilligan can ask rise.

Market

The Leandro Lacunza question follows Hibernians around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Leandro Lacunza’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

288 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

2 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Floriana come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Hibernians did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 0 in, 1 out at Hibernians

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Squad

Chukwuemeka Junior Eke pulls a muscle — 15 days out

The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.

The dugout

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Squad

Charleston signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Charleston and Hibernians agree another 2 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

Wages eat 147% of everything Hibernians earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

The dugout

No hiding place for Rok Frešer

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rok Frešer, and the manager let it.

Market

Hibernians and Ciaran Gilligan are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

In brief

287 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

26 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Kevin Halabaku is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.81 with 31 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

A day Kevin Halabaku will not forget

4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Match

Hibernians finish in position 3

47 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Market

Hibernians say no — this time

The offer from Floriana for Rok Frešer was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market

Nikodem Kuzera hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Joseph Mbong yet — 8.05

At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Match

Another one collected away from home

6 on the bounce on the road for Hibernians. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.

The dugout

Thomas Camilleri keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hibernians may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

In brief

286 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

19 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Kevin Halabaku

27 goals and a season average of 7.74 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Market

Mouad El Fanis agrees terms with Tarxien Rainbows

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hibernians people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Match

Hibernians refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 44 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Market

Williams Alfaro puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Ciaran Gilligan falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Floriana take the points off Hibernians

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

No hiding place for Matteo Cardinali

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matteo Cardinali, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Kevin Halabaku was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

In brief

  • Squad Ciaran Gilligan reaches 100 appearances
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout No place for Rok Frešer on the big day
285 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

12 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Kevin Halabaku is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.73 with 26 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Chastening afternoon for Hibernians

A 1‑4 beating by Birkirkara was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Market

Hibernians turn down Marsaxlokk for Mouad El Fanis

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Player ratings

Matthew Muscat, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.81

A mark of 7.81 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

The dugout

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Market

James Vella hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Birkirkara end the Hibernians run at 10

Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 10 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.

The dugout

Owen Debattista keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hibernians may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

284 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

5 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Hibernians make it 10 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Hibernians have 10 straight wins of it.

Squad

Shaisen Attard damages knee ligaments — 15 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Match

Miullen leads the rout of Sliema Wanderers

4‑1, and Miullen took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Hibernians tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings

Miullen scores twice — 9.16

Two goals and a mark of 9.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Shakil Nicolaou asks to leave Hibernians

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

The dugout

Nikodem Kuzera says Hibernians went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Player ratings

Alan Mintoff, 19, steals the show — 7.69

Marked 7.69 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Squad

The season belongs to Leandro Lacunza

An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Hibernians have had the benefit of it.

Match

Hibernians keep winning on the road

5 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

In brief

283 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

29 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Kevin Halabaku is carrying Hibernians

25 goals and a season average of 7.73. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

Nobody wants to play Hibernians right now

9 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

The knee: Shaisen Attard out for 22 days

22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Kevin Halabaku takes the match ball home

4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Match

Hibernians tear Mosta apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑0 against Mosta, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Vintage Miullen — 8.43

At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.43, and nobody on the pitch better.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

Kevin Halabaku was on a different afternoon to everybody else

10.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hibernians and Mosta in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

In brief

282 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

22 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Shaisen Attard

29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hibernians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Nobody wants to play Hibernians right now

8 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

Kevin Halabaku is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.65 with 21 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Player ratings

Both of them Kevin Halabaku's — 9.24

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.24, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

Hibernians up to position 3

38 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Player ratings

Joseph Mbong, 34, rolls back the years — 8.03

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

Hibernians keep winning on the road

4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

Squad

Kevin Halabaku falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

In brief

281 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

15 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

The knee: Shaisen Attard out for 36 days

36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Hibernians make it 7 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Hibernians have 7 straight wins of it.

Market

Eduardo Alcides asks to leave Hibernians

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Mailson Lima yet — 8.32

At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.32 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

The dugout

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Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ciaran Gilligan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Hibernians see off Gzira United

Three points for Hibernians, 2‑0 the final word against Gzira United in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Match

Hibernians keep winning on the road

3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

In brief

280 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

8 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Shaisen Attard

43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hibernians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Cup progress for Hibernians

A 3‑1 win over Valletta, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Match

Hibernians tear Hamrun Spartans apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Hamrun Spartans, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Cleiton Robozão scores twice — 9.25

Two goals and a mark of 9.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Kevin Halabaku is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.61 with 19 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

Kevin Halabaku takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Match

Hibernians cannot stop winning

6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Player ratings

Joseph Attard, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.86

A mark of 7.86 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Player ratings

Vintage Miullen — 8.44

At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.44, and nobody on the pitch better.

In brief

279 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

1 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Shaisen Attard out for 50 days

50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

3 goals for Kevin Halabaku

The match ball belongs to Kevin Halabaku, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Player ratings

Miullen, 33, rolls back the years — 9.00

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.00 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Kevin Halabaku is carrying Hibernians

16 goals and a season average of 7.53. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Market

Mackenzie Chapman hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Hibernians cannot stop winning

4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Kevin Halabaku

Marked 10.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hibernians and Naxxar Lions in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

In brief

278 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

24 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Shaisen Attard damages knee ligaments — 57 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 57 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

4 goals for Kevin Halabaku

The match ball belongs to Kevin Halabaku, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Match

Kevin Halabaku leads the rout of Valletta

5‑0, and Kevin Halabaku took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Hibernians tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Match

Hibernians refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 26 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Miullen yet — 9.01

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Kevin Halabaku is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.43 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Hibernians make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Hibernians have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Player ratings

Kevin Halabaku in the eights

A performance of 10.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

277 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

17 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Shaisen Attard damages knee ligaments — 64 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 64 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Eduardo Alcides hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Miullen yet — 8.95

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.95 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

The dugout

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The dugout

Alan Mintoff says Hibernians went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ciaran Gilligan falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Miullen the difference as Hibernians beat Tarxien Rainbows

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Miullen. 2‑0 against Tarxien Rainbows, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Kevin Halabaku

9 goals and a season average of 7.33 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

In brief

276 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

10 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Shaisen Attard out for 71 days

71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

Both of them Kevin Halabaku's — 9.29

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.29, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Williams Alfaro puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Kevin Halabaku the difference as Hibernians beat Zabbar St. Patrick

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kevin Halabaku. 3‑1 against Zabbar St. Patrick, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Halabaku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Kevin Halabaku is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.27 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

The dugout

Rok Frešer gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Match

Halfway: Hibernians sit in position 4

20 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

In brief

275 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

3 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Shaisen Attard

78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hibernians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Mailson Lima signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mailson Lima commits to Hibernians for another 2 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Halabaku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Hibernians

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Matteo Cardinali

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Match

Floriana take the points off Hibernians

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Boardroom

104% of the income goes out in wages at Hibernians

Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.

Market

Hibernians and Ciaran Gilligan are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

In brief

274 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

27 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Shaisen Attard out for 85 days

85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

A hiding for Hibernians

Beaten 0‑3 by Birkirkara, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Looking ahead

Top-of-the-table clash for Hibernians

Floriana next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduardo Alcides is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Boardroom

Inquest at Hibernians

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gilbert Xuereb after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Azer Kozić

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

When it matters, Matteo Cardinali plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

273 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

20 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Shaisen Attard

92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hibernians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Eduardo Alcides puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

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Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Kevin Halabaku falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

A bad afternoon for Hibernians against Sliema Wanderers

0‑1 to Sliema Wanderers, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Looking ahead

Hibernians and Birkirkara meet at the summit

The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kevin Halabaku

Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

In brief

272 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

13 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Shaisen Attard out for 99 days

99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Hibernians refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 17 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Match

Hibernians cannot stop winning

3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Halabaku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Hibernians find a way past Mosta

Mosta made Hibernians work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Chukwuemeka Junior Eke

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Azer Kozić

A mark of 7.72, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

Squad

Kevin Halabaku is carrying Hibernians

6 goals and a season average of 7.21. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

In brief

271 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

6 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Shaisen Attard out for 107 days

107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

No mercy from Hibernians

Marsaxlokk will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Hibernians were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

A brace, and Mouad El Fanis takes the afternoon — 8.17

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mouad El Fanis provided it, and the 8.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Miullen yet — 9.04

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.04 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Leandro Lacunza signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Leandro Lacunza commits to Hibernians for another 2 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match

6 unbeaten for Hibernians

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Hibernians did not have in the autumn.

The terraces

One of their own: Owen Debattista

He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Squad

Eduardo Alcides falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

In brief

270 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

29 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Shaisen Attard out for 114 days

114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

No mercy from Hibernians

Gzira United will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Hibernians were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

Miullen scores twice — 9.88

Two goals and a mark of 9.88 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Mailson Lima yet — 8.36

At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.36 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

6 goals as Hibernians and Gzira United go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Hibernians and Gzira United, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Player ratings

Kevin Halabaku was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.64. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

The dugout

A satisfied Gilbert Xuereb

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 6‑0, Gilbert Xuereb could afford to be generous.

The dugout

Matteo Cardinali has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

269 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

22 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Shaisen Attard

121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hibernians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Hamrun Spartans punish Hibernians for switching off

2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Mouad El Fanis will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Hibernians escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.

The dugout

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The dugout

Owen Debattista says Hibernians went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ciaran Gilligan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

No hiding place for Miullen

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Miullen, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Kevin Halabaku at his very best

Marked 8.13. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hibernians.

Player ratings

Mouad El Fanis in the eights

A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

268 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

15 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Shaisen Attard out for 128 days

128 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

The dugout

Nikodem Kuzera keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hibernians may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Player ratings

Owen Debattista, 19, steals the show — 7.64

Marked 7.64 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Market

Williams Alfaro asks to leave Hibernians

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Liam Buhagiar comes home

The shirt still fits. Liam Buhagiar is back at Hibernians, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Liam Buhagiar gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Liam Buhagiar has just signed for Hibernians, and for once the answer mattered.

Match

Kevin Halabaku the difference as Hibernians beat Naxxar Lions

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kevin Halabaku. 2‑0 against Naxxar Lions, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The dugout

Ciaran Gilligan gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

  • Player ratings Kevin Halabaku was on a different afternoon to everybody else
  • Player ratings Mouad El Fanis was on a different afternoon to everybody else
  • Squad Eduardo Alcides falls out with a teammate over standards
267 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

8 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Shaisen Attard damages knee ligaments — 135 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 135 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Mouad El Fanis has said yes to Tarxien Rainbows

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hibernians have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Squad

17 days out for Alan Majewski after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hibernians will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Boardroom

Hibernians told to sell

The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.

Squad

Mouad El Fanis stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Mouad El Fanis and Hibernians agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

Kevin Halabaku was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Match

Hibernians caught on 93 minutes

The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Valletta scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.

Market

Hibernians and Ciaran Gilligan are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

In brief

266 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

1 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Shaisen Attard

142 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hibernians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Hibernians run riot against Tarxien Rainbows

5‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Squad

24 days out for Alan Majewski after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hibernians will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Player ratings

Kevin Halabaku scores twice — 9.55

Two goals and a mark of 9.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Ciaran Gilligan scores twice — 8.29

Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Owen Debattista, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.82

A mark of 8.82 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Player ratings

Charleston, 34, rolls back the years — 8.12

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.12 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 18 signed and 12 gone

That is the business done at Hibernians until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Transfer targets

Matteo Grech will not be coming to Hibernians

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Valletta is saying, and nobody at Hibernians is enjoying the guessing.

In brief

  • Squad Tempers go at Hibernians
  • Boardroom 11 academy players handed senior numbers at Hibernians
  • Squad Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work
265 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

25 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for James Vella

85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hibernians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Alan Majewski breaks a bone — 31 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

The dugout

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Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Ciaran Gilligan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A late step up for Daniel Letherby

At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

The dugout

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The dugout

When it matters, Kevin Halabaku plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Harvey Bardsley

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Market

The Matteo Cardinali question follows Hibernians around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Matteo Cardinali’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

264 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

18 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: James Vella out for 92 days

92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Alan Majewski breaks a bone — 38 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Tarxien Rainbows come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Hibernians did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Terms done: Jamie Azzopardi is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tarxien Rainbows waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Jamie Azzopardi asks to leave Hibernians

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Harvey Bardsley has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hibernians they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Late improvement for Nikodem Kuzera

At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 5 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

The dugout

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In brief

263 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

11 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: James Vella out for 99 days

99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Mouad El Fanis has said yes to Tarxien Rainbows

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hibernians have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Squad

A fracture rules Alan Majewski out for 45 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hibernians will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Mouad El Fanis asks to leave Hibernians

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Only the photograph left for Jamie Azzopardi

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jamie Azzopardi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hibernians the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A late step up for Rok Frešer

At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

The dugout

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The dugout

Mailson Lima has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

262 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

4 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: James Vella out for 106 days

106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A fracture rules Alan Majewski out for 52 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hibernians will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Eduardo Alcides puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A move Shakil Nicolaou would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Shakil Nicolaou is living that version at Hibernians, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

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Boardroom

Wages eat 86% of everything Hibernians earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

The dugout

Leandro Lacunza gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Leandro Lacunza is on it.

Market

The Jamie Azzopardi conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: Valletta will make the call about Jamie Azzopardi this week. Hibernians have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

In brief

261 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

28 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for James Vella

113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hibernians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Alan Majewski breaks a bone — 59 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Only the photograph left for Mouad El Fanis

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mouad El Fanis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hibernians the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Transfer targets

$160.0K settles it between the clubs for Alex Li

Zabbar St. Patrick have accepted the money. What Hibernians do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

The dugout

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Market

Tarxien Rainbows come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Hibernians did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

A muscle injury sidelines Mailson Lima for 16 days

Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Hibernians will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

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In brief

260 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

21 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

James Vella damages knee ligaments — 120 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 120 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

Nikodem Kuzera is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Market

Harvey Bardsley has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hibernians they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

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Squad

Shaisen Attard has improved at 26, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

The dugout

Matteo Cardinali gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matteo Cardinali is on it.

The dugout

Azer Kozić gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Eduardo Alcides asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

259 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

14 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

James Vella damages knee ligaments — 127 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 127 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Terms done: Mouad El Fanis is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tarxien Rainbows waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Mouad El Fanis hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A late step up for Rok Frešer

At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

The dugout

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Squad

Ciaran Gilligan falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

Ciaran Gilligan gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

When it matters, Mailson Lima plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

258 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

7 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for James Vella

134 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hibernians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Eduardo Alcides hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Jamie Azzopardi has said yes to Sliema Wanderers

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hibernians have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Squad

Alan Majewski gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Alan Majewski has just signed for Hibernians, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

Charleston signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Charleston and Hibernians agree another 2 years.

Squad

Ciaran Gilligan in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Tarxien Rainbows are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Hibernians will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

The dugout

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Boardroom

Wages eat 91% of everything Hibernians earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

In brief

257 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

30 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: James Vella out for 141 days

141 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Hibernians turn down Tarxien Rainbows for Mouad El Fanis

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

The dugout

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Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

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Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eduardo Alcides was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Hibernians count the cost of losing Jamie Azzopardi

17 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

The dugout

Kevin Halabaku gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kevin Halabaku is on it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Alan Mintoff

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alan Mintoff, and the manager let it.

In brief

256 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

23 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Jamie Azzopardi agrees terms with Valletta

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hibernians people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Williams Alfaro hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Harvey Bardsley has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hibernians they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

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Squad

Daniel Letherby falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

Matteo Cardinali has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Artem Oleksenko

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Oleksenko, and the manager let it.

Market

The Matteo Cardinali question follows Hibernians around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Matteo Cardinali’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

255 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

16 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Terms done: Mouad El Fanis is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tarxien Rainbows waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Mouad El Fanis hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

Matthew Muscat keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hibernians may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Hibernians lose Mailson Lima

14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Letherby is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Market

The Dexter Xuereb conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: Naxxar Lions will make the call about Dexter Xuereb this week. Hibernians have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

The dugout

Mailson Lima gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mailson Lima is on it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Azer Kozić

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Azer Kozić, and the manager let it.

In brief

254 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

9 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Harvey Bardsley agrees terms with Valletta

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hibernians people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Dexter Xuereb hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Hibernians say no — this time

The offer from Sliema Wanderers for Jamie Azzopardi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

James Vella gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. James Vella has just signed for Hibernians, and for once the answer mattered.

Market

Tarxien Rainbows expected to open talks for Mouad El Fanis

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Hibernians will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

Squad

Eduardo Alcides falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Rok Frešer

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 88% of the Hibernians income

Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.

In brief

253 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

2 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

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Market

Artem Oleksenko puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

An unwelcome headline for Jurgen Degabriele

He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.

Market

Harvey Bardsley attracts admirers

The name of Harvey Bardsley has come up in conversations Hibernians were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Daniel Letherby falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Voices raised on the Hibernians training ground

Two players, one bad tackle and a session that had to be stopped. It was over in a minute; it was outside the gates in an hour.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Guilherme Cardoso is in the works

Hibernians have made the call to Hamrun Spartans. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

The dugout

Kevin Halabaku has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

252 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

26 May 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Letherby was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Hibernians lose Alan Mintoff

14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

The dugout

Matteo Cardinali gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matteo Cardinali is on it.

Market

The Matteo Cardinali question follows Hibernians around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Matteo Cardinali’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

Competition arrives for Leandro Lacunza

A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Hibernians have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.

The dugout

Jamie Wähling knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jamie Wähling trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Hibernians and Rok Frešer are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

Market

Hibernians pick up Rok Frešer for nothing

The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Rok Frešer arrives at Hibernians with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.

In brief

251 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

19 May 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Mouad El Fanis hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Only the photograph left for Harvey Bardsley

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harvey Bardsley will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hibernians the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Ciaran Gilligan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Mailson Lima gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mailson Lima is on it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Azer Kozić

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Somebody is after Leandro Lacunza’s shirt

A new face in his position, and Leandro Lacunza suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Hibernians have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.

Squad

Thomas Camilleri: “I am not a substitute”

“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Hibernians will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

Market

Hibernians and Owen Debattista are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

The dugout

Thomas Camilleri knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hibernians, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

250 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

12 May 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Matteo Cardinali out for 17 days

17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

The dugout

Azer Kozić says Hibernians went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Williams Alfaro puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Daniel Letherby comes home

The shirt still fits. Daniel Letherby is back at Hibernians, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ciaran Gilligan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Chukwuemeka Junior Eke

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

The formation has left Daniel Letherby behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Hibernians will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

The dugout

When it matters, Leandro Lacunza plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

249 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

5 May 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Matteo Cardinali

24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hibernians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The dugout

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Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

This league is too small for Ciaran Gilligan

He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Hibernians will not keep him by pretending otherwise.

Market

Hibernians and Ciaran Gilligan are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

Squad

Williams Alfaro wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Hibernians know it.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 89% of the Hibernians income

Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.

The dugout

Kevin Halabaku has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Chukwuemeka Junior Eke knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chukwuemeka Junior Eke trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

248 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

28 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Matteo Cardinali out for 31 days

31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

The cup run ends for Hibernians

0‑1 against Tarxien Rainbows, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Kevin Halabaku was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Mouad El Fanis is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.20 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

The dugout

No place for Ryder Matos on the big day

He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Hibernians pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.

The dugout

Matteo Cardinali has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

The Matteo Cardinali question follows Hibernians around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Matteo Cardinali’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

247 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

21 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Matteo Cardinali damages knee ligaments — 38 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Mouad El Fanis hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Harvey Bardsley has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hibernians they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

Eduardo Alcides gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Mailson Lima gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mailson Lima is on it.

Squad

Thomas Camilleri: “I am not a substitute”

“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Hibernians will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

Market

The Ryder Matos talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hibernians know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Adrián Leites knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adrián Leites trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

246 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

14 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Matteo Cardinali out for 45 days

45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Adrián Leites asks to leave Hibernians

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The dugout

Leandro Lacunza gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Leandro Lacunza is on it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Azer Kozić

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Azer Kozić, and the manager let it.

Squad

Adrián Leites falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

In brief

245 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

7 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Matteo Cardinali damages knee ligaments — 52 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 52 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

The dugout

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Squad

Mailson Lima signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mailson Lima and Hibernians agree another 2 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Jurgen Degabriele and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The dugout

Kevin Halabaku gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kevin Halabaku is on it.

Squad

Leandro Lacunza loses the armband

The captaincy has been taken off Leandro Lacunza. Hibernians will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Harvey Bardsley

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Market

The Miullen story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Miullen signs something — a contract at Hibernians or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Jurgen Degabriele knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jurgen Degabriele trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

244 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

31 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Jurgen Degabriele was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Boardroom

Wages eat 95% of everything Hibernians earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

The dugout

No hiding place for Cleiton Robozão

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cleiton Robozão, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Matteo Cardinali gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matteo Cardinali is on it.

Market

The Matteo Cardinali question follows Hibernians around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Matteo Cardinali’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

Matthew Muscat wants out of the dugout

“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Hibernians will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.

In brief

243 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

24 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Mouad El Fanis puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Harvey Bardsley is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

Chukwuemeka Junior Eke gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

When it matters, Mailson Lima plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adrián Leites was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Country calls for Joseph Mbong

He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Hibernians lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.

Squad

Kurt Shaw goes off with his country

A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Hibernians would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.

Market

The Ryder Matos talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hibernians know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

242 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

17 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Ryder Matos: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hibernians have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The dugout

Leandro Lacunza gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Leandro Lacunza is on it.

In brief

241 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

10 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

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Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

When it matters, Kevin Halabaku plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jamie Wähling

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Ryder Matos asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The Miullen story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Miullen signs something — a contract at Hibernians or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

240 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

3 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

19 seasons of Jurgen Degabriele

333 appearances across 19 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Hibernians know what they have.

Squad

Leandro Lacunza signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Leandro Lacunza commits to Hibernians for another 2 years.

Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

An unwelcome headline for Jurgen Degabriele

He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.

The dugout

Eduardo Alcides gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 102% of the Hibernians income

Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.

In brief

239 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

24 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Mouad El Fanis hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Harvey Bardsley is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrián Leites is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

Cleiton Robozão gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Mailson Lima has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Eduardo Alcides knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hibernians, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Ryder Matos talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hibernians know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Mouad El Fanis keeps his manager's vote

The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Mouad El Fanis plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.

In brief

238 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

17 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Kevin Halabaku sends Hibernians through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Kevin Halabaku obliged against Valletta. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Hibernians.

Match

Hibernians win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 107th minute. Valletta will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Player ratings

A brace, and Kevin Halabaku takes the afternoon — 8.38

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kevin Halabaku provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

The dugout

Cleiton Robozão: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hibernians have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Player ratings

Joseph Mbong, 33, rolls back the years — 8.00

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Player ratings

Mouad El Fanis beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Jurgen Degabriele and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Mouad El Fanis

9 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gilbert Xuereb on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

In brief

237 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

10 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

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The dugout

Thomas Camilleri: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hibernians have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Jurgen Degabriele and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Ryder Matos

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adrián Leites was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Hibernians keep their word to Kurt Shaw

Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.

Market

The Miullen story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Miullen signs something — a contract at Hibernians or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Market

The market said no: Adrián Leites stays put

Hibernians opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Adrián Leites stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.

Market

Victor Bugeja leaves for nothing

Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Victor Bugeja leaves Hibernians the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.

In brief

236 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

3 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom

Hibernians close the window on a squad of their own making

0 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

An unwelcome headline for Dexter Xuereb

He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.

Squad

Owen Debattista is the division's best young player this month

At 18 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Hibernians will try very hard not to make too much of it.

Boardroom

Wages eat 118% of everything Hibernians earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

Squad

Jamie Azzopardi signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jamie Azzopardi commits to Hibernians for another 2 years.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Adrián Leites

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Charleston has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

The Matteo Cardinali question follows Hibernians around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Matteo Cardinali’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

235 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

27 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Mouad El Fanis asks to leave Hibernians

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Match

Hibernians finish in position 8

25 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Player ratings

Both of them Kevin Halabaku's — 8.32

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.32, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Jamie Azzopardi agrees terms with Valletta

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hibernians people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Player ratings

Owen Debattista, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.42

A mark of 8.42 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad

Matteo Cardinali stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Harvey Bardsley is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match

Kevin Halabaku the difference as Hibernians beat Zabbar St. Patrick

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kevin Halabaku. 4‑3 against Zabbar St. Patrick, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

In brief

234 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

20 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Vintage Joseph Mbong — 7.96

At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.96, and nobody on the pitch better.

Market

Jamie Azzopardi hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Match

4 matches without a win for Hibernians

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Hibernians are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Kevin Halabaku was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

Hibernians come up short against Floriana

Floriana left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Chukwuemeka Junior Eke gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Mouad El Fanis

Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adrián Leites was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Gilbert Xuereb left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

233 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

13 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Both of them Owen Debattista's — 8.89

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.89, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Terms done: Jamie Azzopardi is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mosta waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Joseph Mbong yet — 7.93

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

The dugout

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Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Owen Debattista

At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

The dugout

No hiding place for Eduardo Alcides

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eduardo Alcides, and the manager let it.

Match

Hibernians caught on 88 minutes

The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Birkirkara scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrián Leites is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

232 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

6 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Harvey Bardsley has said yes to Zabbar St. Patrick

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hibernians have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Jurgen Degabriele asks to leave Hibernians

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Mouad El Fanis is named among the best

There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Hibernians will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Kevin Halabaku and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Sliema Wanderers take the points off Hibernians

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Mouad El Fanis

Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Kevin Halabaku

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Kevin Halabaku has come out of that comparison in the side, and Hibernians have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

The dugout

Jurgen Degabriele gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

231 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

30 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Mouad El Fanis puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Victor Bugeja has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hibernians they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Match

Hibernians come up short against Mosta

Mosta left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 130% of the Hibernians income

Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gilbert Xuereb after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Dexter Xuereb was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Player ratings

Mouad El Fanis was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

The dugout

Cleiton Robozão gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

When it matters, Charleston plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

230 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

23 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Mouad El Fanis runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Miullen sends Hibernians past Marsaxlokk

It finished 1‑0, and it was Miullen’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Hibernians.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Miullen at his very best

Marked 8.14. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hibernians.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduardo Alcides is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Jurgen Degabriele and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

The dugout

Leandro Lacunza gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Leandro Lacunza is on it.

The dugout

Kurt Shaw asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

The dugout

No hiding place for Julian Sultana

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julian Sultana, and the manager let it.

In brief

229 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

16 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Miullen leads the rout of Gzira United

4‑1, and Miullen took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Hibernians tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

The dugout

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Market

Jamie Azzopardi is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Kevin Halabaku in the eights

A performance of 8.14 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduardo Alcides is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Player ratings

Miullen was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Player ratings

Mouad El Fanis was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 4‑1, already talking about the next one.

In brief

228 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

9 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Hibernians march on in the cup

Sliema Wanderers are out and Hibernians go through, 3‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Match

Hibernians win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 96th minute. Sliema Wanderers will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Silas Alfred

Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Victor Bugeja, 20, steals the show — 8.12

Marked 8.12 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Market

Harvey Bardsley is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Charleston signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Charleston commits to Hibernians for another 2 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The terraces

One of their own: Artem Oleksenko

He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Player ratings

Kevin Halabaku in the eights

A performance of 8.19 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

227 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

2 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Mouad El Fanis puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Joseph Mbong yet — 7.88

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Victor Bugeja has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hibernians they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Charleston signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Charleston commits to Hibernians for another 2 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Kevin Halabaku and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match

Mouad El Fanis’s goal not enough for Hibernians

Mouad El Fanis scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Naxxar Lions, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eduardo Alcides was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

One of those days for Mouad El Fanis

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Boardroom

Wages eat 115% of everything Hibernians earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

In brief

226 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

25 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Mouad El Fanis was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Eduardo Alcides

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Match

Hibernians and Valletta take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

When it matters, Leandro Lacunza plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Gilbert Xuereb after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Jamie Azzopardi

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Naxxar Lions in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

Market

Leandro Lacunza linked with a move away

The name of Leandro Lacunza keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Hibernians say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Owen Debattista

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

In brief

225 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

18 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Kurt Shaw damages knee ligaments — 17 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

The dugout

Azer Kozić says Hibernians went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

The dugout

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Market

Jamie Azzopardi is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Kevin Halabaku in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Tarxien Rainbows take the points off Hibernians

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Matteo Cardinali gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Gilbert Xuereb to a room that had heard them before.

Looking ahead

Chukwuemeka Junior Eke goes back to face Valletta

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Chukwuemeka Junior Eke’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Hibernians needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

224 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

11 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Kurt Shaw damages knee ligaments — 25 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 25 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Player ratings

Leandro Lacunza, 33, rolls back the years — 7.81

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Only the photograph left for Harvey Bardsley

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harvey Bardsley will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hibernians the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Player ratings

Mouad El Fanis was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Owen Debattista

At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Miullen

Marked 8.80 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Match

Miullen the difference as Hibernians beat Zabbar St. Patrick

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Miullen. 2‑0 against Zabbar St. Patrick, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eduardo Alcides was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Cleiton Robozão gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

223 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

4 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Kurt Shaw damages knee ligaments — 32 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 32 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Mouad El Fanis puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

6 saves: Matteo Cardinali was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Market

Victor Bugeja is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Hibernians

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kevin Halabaku

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Floriana take the points off Hibernians

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduardo Alcides is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Jurgen Degabriele in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

  • Boardroom Wages swallow 99% of the Hibernians income
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout No hiding place for Jurgen Degabriele
222 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

28 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Kurt Shaw damages knee ligaments — 39 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

6 saves: Matteo Cardinali was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match

Birkirkara take the points off Hibernians

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Player ratings

Mouad El Fanis runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Gilbert Xuereb faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gilbert Xuereb after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Charleston gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Charleston is on it.

Looking ahead

A test against the best for Hibernians

The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Floriana.

The dugout

No hiding place for Victor Bugeja

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Victor Bugeja, and the manager let it.

In brief

221 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

21 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Kurt Shaw damages knee ligaments — 46 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 46 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

The dugout

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Market

Only the photograph left for Jamie Azzopardi

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jamie Azzopardi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hibernians the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Charleston was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

Sliema Wanderers take the points off Hibernians

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduardo Alcides is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Gilbert Xuereb to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

Kevin Halabaku gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kevin Halabaku is on it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Azer Kozić

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

220 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

14 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Kurt Shaw damages knee ligaments — 54 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 54 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Matteo Cardinali

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Owen Debattista at 18 — 7.65

The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Owen Debattista did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Market

Only the photograph left for Harvey Bardsley

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harvey Bardsley will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hibernians the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Kevin Halabaku and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match

Mouad El Fanis sends Hibernians past Mosta

It finished 2‑1, and it was Mouad El Fanis’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Hibernians.

Player ratings

Kevin Halabaku beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

Mouad El Fanis in the eights

A performance of 8.17 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

The dugout

A satisfied Gilbert Xuereb

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Gilbert Xuereb could afford to be generous.

In brief

219 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

7 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Kurt Shaw damages knee ligaments — 61 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 61 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Player ratings

Owen Debattista, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.99

A mark of 7.99 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Market

Only the photograph left for Victor Bugeja

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Victor Bugeja will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hibernians the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Miullen stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Miullen and Hibernians agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Owen Debattista sends Hibernians past Marsaxlokk

It finished 3‑1, and it was Owen Debattista’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Hibernians.

Player ratings

Kevin Halabaku in the eights

A performance of 8.26 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

One of those days for Mouad El Fanis

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

No hiding place for Eduardo Alcides

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eduardo Alcides, and the manager let it.

In brief

218 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

30 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Kurt Shaw damages knee ligaments — 68 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 68 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Mouad El Fanis

Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Charleston in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Hibernians come up short against Gzira United

Gzira United left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduardo Alcides is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Gilbert Xuereb to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Adrián Leites

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Mailson Lima gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mailson Lima is on it.

The dugout

Eduardo Alcides knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hibernians, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

217 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

23 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Kurt Shaw damages knee ligaments — 75 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 75 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

The dugout

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Market

Jamie Azzopardi is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Match

At last: Hibernians win one

7 matches without a win, and then this, against Hamrun Spartans. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.

Player ratings

Kevin Halabaku runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The terraces

One of their own: Owen Debattista

He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Match

Mouad El Fanis sends Hibernians past Hamrun Spartans

It finished 1‑0, and it was Mouad El Fanis’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Hibernians.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eduardo Alcides was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Mouad El Fanis

Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

In brief

216 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

16 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Kurt Shaw out for 82 days

82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

7 matches without a win for Hibernians

The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Hibernians are no longer polite ones.

Market

Harvey Bardsley has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hibernians they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Player ratings

Mouad El Fanis has a hand in both — 7.77

One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.77, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.

The dugout

No hiding place for Matteo Cardinali

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matteo Cardinali, and the manager let it.

Squad

Shaisen Attard has improved at 25, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Kevin Halabaku

Marked 8.06 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Match

Hibernians rescue it on 93 minutes

Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 93. Naxxar Lions had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.

Squad

Jurgen Degabriele in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

215 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

9 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Kurt Shaw

89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hibernians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Terms done: Jamie Azzopardi is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sliema Wanderers waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Match

No end in sight to Hibernians's wait for a win

6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hibernians has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Only the photograph left for Victor Bugeja

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Victor Bugeja will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hibernians the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Boardroom

Jamie Azzopardi has agreed to leave Hibernians for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Squad

Joseph Mbong stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Joseph Mbong and Hibernians agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Real improvement from Artem Oleksenko at Hibernians

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Artem Oleksenko is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

A bad afternoon for Hibernians against Valletta

0‑1 to Valletta, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

In brief

214 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

2 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Kurt Shaw out for 96 days

96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Harvey Bardsley agrees terms with Valletta

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hibernians people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Match

The wait goes on for Hibernians

5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 10 signed and 11 gone

That is the business done at Hibernians until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Market

So close: Jamie Wähling’s move dies late

The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Floriana moved on, Jamie Wähling reports back to Hibernians, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.

Squad

Hibernians count the cost of losing Miullen

41 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

Joseph Mbong signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Joseph Mbong commits to Hibernians for another 2 years.

Squad

Williams Alfaro gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Williams Alfaro has just signed for Hibernians, and for once the answer mattered.

Match

Jurgen Degabriele’s goal not enough for Hibernians

Jurgen Degabriele scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Tarxien Rainbows, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

In brief

213 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

26 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Pedrão out for 115 days

115 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Hibernians turn down Valletta for Pedrão

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Victor Bugeja agrees terms with Marsaxlokk

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hibernians people have started saying his name in the past tense.

The dugout

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Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Charleston was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Boardroom

5 academy players handed senior numbers at Hibernians

The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.

Market

Julian Sultana steps up from the Hibernians academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Julian Sultana has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Oliver Agius steps up from the Hibernians academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Oliver Agius has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Boardroom

Hibernians let a promise lapse

A date was given and it came and went. Nobody upstairs will call it a broken promise, and nobody downstairs will call it anything else for a long time.

In brief

212 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

19 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Pedrão

122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hibernians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Jamie Azzopardi hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

The step up is real for Kanye Bradshaw

At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

Eduardo Alcides gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Chukwuemeka Junior Eke has outgrown this division

There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Hibernians know it, and so does everybody who watches him.

Market

Talks stall between Hibernians and Chukwuemeka Junior Eke

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

The dugout

When it matters, Charleston plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Victor Bugeja conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: Marsaxlokk will make the call about Victor Bugeja this week. Hibernians have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

In brief

211 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

12 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Pedrão damages knee ligaments — 130 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 130 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Kanye Bradshaw puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Only the photograph left for Harvey Bardsley

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harvey Bardsley will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hibernians the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Real improvement from Artem Oleksenko at Hibernians

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Artem Oleksenko is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Late improvement for Shaisen Attard

At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

The dugout

Leandro Lacunza has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Jamie Wähling

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jamie Wähling, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Eduardo Alcides asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

210 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

5 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Pedrão out for 137 days

137 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Not going: Pedrão stays at Hibernians

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Valletta had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Market

Silas Alfred hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Leandro Lacunza stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Leandro Lacunza and Hibernians agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Dexter Xuereb and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matthew Muscat is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

Pedrão gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Pedrão is on it.

Market

Talks stall between Hibernians and Jurgen Degabriele

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Market

The Cleiton Robozão talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hibernians know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

209 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

29 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Pedrão out for 144 days

144 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Terms done: Harvey Bardsley is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zabbar St. Patrick waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

The dugout

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Market

Victor Bugeja has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hibernians they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Jurgen Degabriele and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adrián Leites was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Mailson Lima gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mailson Lima is on it.

Market

No place for Jamie Azzopardi in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jamie Azzopardi has his answer from Hibernians; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

Market

The Miullen question follows Hibernians around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Miullen’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

208 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

22 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

Pedrão told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Pedrão has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Hibernians.

The dugout

When it matters, Charleston plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Victor Bugeja

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Victor Bugeja, and the manager let it.

Market

The Matteo Cardinali story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matteo Cardinali signs something — a contract at Hibernians or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

A door opens for Harvey Bardsley

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

207 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

15 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Pedrão has said yes to Valletta

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hibernians have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Kanye Bradshaw asks to leave Hibernians

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Leandro Lacunza out for 30 days

The medical room confirms 30 days on the sidelines for Leandro Lacunza, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Market

Harvey Bardsley is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Leandro Lacunza gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Leandro Lacunza is on it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Azer Kozić

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Market

The Leandro Lacunza question follows Hibernians around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Leandro Lacunza’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Match

Hibernians have something to play for

Position 6 on 35 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.

In brief

206 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

8 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Hibernians turn down Valletta for Pedrão

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Terms done: Harvey Bardsley is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Valletta waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Silas Alfred hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Charleston in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Pedrão gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrián Leites is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Boardroom

Hibernians sign 6 boys into the academy

None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.

The dugout

Pedrão has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

The Cleiton Robozão talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hibernians know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

205 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

1 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Pedrão: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hibernians have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

The dugout

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Market

Victor Bugeja has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hibernians they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Charleston was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

Eduardo Alcides gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrián Leites is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

204 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

24 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Not going: Pedrão stays at Hibernians

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Valletta had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Hibernians lose Kurt Shaw

15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Market

Valletta join the queue for Harvey Bardsley

Add another name to the list: Valletta have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Harvey Bardsley. The answer from Hibernians has not changed — yet.

Squad

Late improvement for Dexter Xuereb

At 32 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

The dugout

When it matters, Charleston plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

203 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

17 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Kanye Bradshaw hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

The step up is real for Artem Oleksenko

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

A late step up for Eduardo Alcides

At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

Squad

Hibernians lose Nicholas Buttigieg

38 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Home is on Kirill Malykh's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Hibernians are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

The dugout

When it matters, Leandro Lacunza plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Leandro Lacunza question follows Hibernians around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Leandro Lacunza’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Market

Talks stall between Hibernians and Jamie Azzopardi

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Match

Hibernians have something to play for

Position 6 on 35 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.

In brief

  • Boardroom Hibernians keep producing them
  • The dugout Miullen keeps his manager's vote
202 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

10 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Terms done: Harvey Bardsley is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Valletta waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Silas Alfred asks to leave Hibernians

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

The step up is real for Kirill Malykh

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Jurgen Degabriele and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Jamie Azzopardi pulls a muscle — 14 days out

The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.

The dugout

When it matters, Pedrão plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

201 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

3 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Adrián Leites puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

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Squad

Hibernians count the cost of losing Mailson Lima

42 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Market

Victor Bugeja has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hibernians they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Market

Harvey Bardsley attracts admirers

The name of Harvey Bardsley has come up in conversations Hibernians were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

The dugout

When it matters, Mailson Lima plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

Shaisen Attard is no longer first choice

The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Shaisen Attard has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.

The dugout

No hiding place for Harvey Bardsley

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Harvey Bardsley, and the manager let it.

In brief

200 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

27 May 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Words exchanged at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The dugout

When it matters, Charleston plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

A row about effort at Hibernians

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matthew Muscat was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

199 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

20 May 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Charleston and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

When it matters, Leandro Lacunza plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

Adrián Leites falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

Adrián Leites gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

The Leandro Lacunza question follows Hibernians around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Leandro Lacunza’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Match

Hibernians have something to play for

Position 6 on 35 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.

The dugout

Silas Alfred knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Silas Alfred trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Adrián Leites placed on the list

Hibernians have made Adrián Leites available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.

Boardroom

Hibernians keep producing them

29 graduates from an academy now rated 7 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.

In brief

198 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

13 May 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Silas Alfred hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Eduardo Alcides

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Pedrão gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Pedrão is on it.

Squad

Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matthew Muscat is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Market

Experience through the door at Hibernians

Adrián Leites arrives at 38 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.

Market

The Cleiton Robozão talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hibernians know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Squad

Adrián Leites has outgrown this division

There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Hibernians know it, and so does everybody who watches him.

The dugout

The manager makes Azer Kozić a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hibernians. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

197 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

6 May 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jurgen Degabriele: 18 seasons and counting

321 appearances across 18 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Hibernians know exactly what they have.

The dugout

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Market

Kanye Bradshaw puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Hibernians lose Mailson Lima

70 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Market

Victor Bugeja is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Charleston signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Charleston commits to Hibernians for another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Charleston was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

A long bet from Hibernians on Jack Arnoll

He is 20, and nobody at Hibernians signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

The dugout

When it matters, Mailson Lima plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

196 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

29 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Dexter Xuereb was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Azer Kozić

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

When it matters, Charleston plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

195 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

22 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Jurgen Degabriele was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

Leandro Lacunza has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

The Leandro Lacunza question follows Hibernians around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Leandro Lacunza’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Match

Continental football is in reach for Hibernians

35 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.

The dugout

Azer Kozić asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

Kanye Bradshaw placed on the list

Hibernians have made Kanye Bradshaw available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.

In brief

194 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

15 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Silas Alfred hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A falling-out at Hibernians

Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Home is on Kirill Malykh's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Hibernians are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

The dugout

Pedrão gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Pedrão is on it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Victor Bugeja

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Market

The Cleiton Robozão talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hibernians know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

193 Edition

The Hibernians Gazette

8 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

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Market

Only the photograph left for Victor Bugeja

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Victor Bugeja will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hibernians the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at Hibernians

Charleston was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Kurt Shaw signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kurt Shaw and Hibernians agree another 3 years.

The dugout

Jurgen Degabriele gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Mailson Lima has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief